Is email marketing still a viable marketing tool for your coaching business?
You’ve probably heard a lot about sales funnels and how valuable email marketing is, but some say it is losing its appeal to customers and is outdated.
But is this true?
In this article, we’ll discuss whether setting up an email marketing strategy for your coaching business is viable long-term or if you should consider alternatives to signing new clients.
Is email marketing effective?
According to Neil Patel, email marketing is losing its spark. As a big name in his field, he and 109 other big-name marketers have noticed a growing trend – open rates are staying the same, but click rates are going down by up to 9.4%.
This figure is even more astounding considering that between those 109 marketers, they have a total of 146-million sign-ups.
To some extent, Neil is right. Click rates are going down, but there could be many reasons for this, including:
- Stronger spam filters
- Promotion tabs in Gmail
And things like these are happening more, causing issues for anyone looking to market their coaching business.
What else could cause click rates to go down?
Another issue with email marketing is sending too many. In a study by Hubspot, 78% of recipients said they cancel email subscriptions because they receive too many messages every week from the same people.
When open or click rates are low, sending more to remind people you are there is tempting. But when you do that, you annoy them and push them to unsubscribe – bye-bye sale!
Length is also a factor.
A report by Litmus states that short emails are much more effective than long ones. So, although it might be tempting to pour all your latest news into your newsletter, splitting your news into regular, bite-sized chunks might be much more effective.
With all this in mind, is there any point in trying email marketing?
Actually, yes.
Why email marketing still works.
According to an Optinmonster study, we send over 102-trillion emails every day.
Yes, I said trillion.
And the age range of email users in the same study might surprise you:
Although the highest percentage of users are between 25-44, 15-24-year-olds are the second-highest, with 91%. Although social media apps have rocketed in recent years, three out of four teenagers still deem email vital.
And 99% of us check email every day.
So, is email marketing dead?
Absolutely not, especially among the younger generation.
In fact, Pat Flynn from Smart Passive Income says emails are “the next big thing in marketing” and considers platforms like LinkedIn and Facebook a walled garden.
And he makes a good point.
While marketing on social media is great, you also have to play by their rules. When you market your business via email, you decide what to do, what seeds you plant, and what you choose to grow in your own walled garden.
Sure, you’ll never get 100% open and click rates. In the same way, not everybody who drives past a shopping mall goes inside and buys something.
But there are things you can do to try and change that.
How to improve click rates.
You don’t have to pull up trees to improve your open and click rates:
1. Write subject headers that capture attention
The email subject header is so powerful that it can persuade the reader to open it or not. So, make them striking and make them something that would make YOU want to open them and read, like:
- Everything you wanted to know about therapy but was afraid to ask
- Uh-oh, your free download is expiring
- Welcome gift – get yours now!
Create urgency, and also keep them short when possible.
For more, check out these 150 great email subject lines.
2. Keep your email copy short
It’s tempting to tell your followers all of your news in one go – but it’s overwhelming. Think about when you last opened a newsletter and had to scroll endlessly to reach the end.
Keep them short and interesting, and you’ll stand a better chance of increasing your click-through rate.
3. Make your content valuable to your email list
Your email list knows how great you are because they have signed up, so make sure each email has something of value in it for the reader.
Whether it’s a quality blog post, free download, or some excellent advice, give your audience what they want, and they’ll open your emails pretty much every time!
4. Send them regularly, on the same day
Yes, you can send the odd surprise newsletter, but it’s good to keep to a set time and day when sending emails to your mailing list.
That way, they know when to expect it, instead of it being 8 am Monday one week and 3 pm Thursday the next.
Keep your sending times and dates regular and consistent.
Something is better than nothing.
Although you don’t want to spam your followers, tell a short story about a problem you have had this week if you are stuck for ideas. Or a talk about a problem you have had that you know your readers will relate to.
Emails like this are a break from the norm, and human stories really strike a chord with readers.
Try it!
Need help getting with your email marketing?
Then why not download my Content Creation Framework and start writing email marketing posts your subscribers will find hard not to click!
I hope you found this helpful!
Jennie
